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6-year-old survives shark attack

Logan Hamby, 6, of Dadeville, had only been on the beach for a few minutes when his vacation took an unexpected turn.
Logan’s parents, Kenneth and Donna Hamby, were a few steps away, settling in for a day of fun, sand and sun. The trip was a delayed honeymoon for the couple, as they waited until the children were off for fall break to plan the trip to Miami.
Then, Kenneth heard a scream. Leah, Logan’s older sister, was standing a few feet away from the child.
“I immediately started getting up,” Kenneth said. “I thought it was a jellyfish.”
Logan was in knee-deep water.
That is when the terrified parents got their first view of a fin cresting out of the water.
By the time Kenneth got to him, a 4-foot-6-inch shark was attached to Logan’s left leg and was attempting to drag the child into the sea.
“When he went under that second time, the shark was pulling him out,” Kenneth said. “Three seconds later, I don’t know if I could have saved him.”
Though he isn’t sure how much the shark weighed, Kenneth was able to get his son back to shore with the shark still attached.
At that point, two nearby men had joined in the effort. Chris Wilson and Dr. Antonio Ruiz, two strangers to the Hamby family, began aiding Kenneth.
Donna instinctively went to try to pry the still-attached shark off Logan’s leg, but Wilson pushed her out of the way. Wilson and Ruiz began punching the shark until it released its grip.

Logan Hamby displays the bandages over the shark bite on his left leg. | Submitted

“It was terrifying,” Donna said. “It all happened so fast, but in my mind it was like everything was in slow motion. It was like my limbs couldn’t move fast enough.”
Kenneth wrapped the bleeding leg up in a t-shirt, and then paramedics arrived soon after to transport the child to the hospital.
Logan’s leg had five deep puncture marks and hundreds of other teeth marks. Doctors were able to stitch up the leg, but at that point, the Hambys were considering bailing on the rest of the trip.
The family was scheduled to take a fishing cruise the next morning. But despite surviving a shark attack, Logan insisted on going.
“The doctor said he was fine to go on the cruise,” Kenneth said.
So Logan, who despite his age is an avid and accomplished fisherman, went back onto the sea without hesitation.
Logan doesn’t remember much of the event, but he did recall telling emergency room doctors his plans for the shark that attacked him.
“I wanted to shoot it with a speargun,” Logan said.
Though he has been shark fishing before, Logan didn’t land any sharks that day – he did get a large sea bass on the line, however.
Logan now has a new nickname, though only time will tell if sticks.
“When Logan was bandaged up and in better spirits, the doctors took to calling him Shark Bait,” Kenneth said.
Logan’s foot is still recovering, but Kenneth said he is already running around and enjoying his favorite pastime.
“He is back fishing, and everything is back to normal,” Kenneth said.